Moon Soup

When Mercurio, a wizened, flat-topped elf of a man, awakens one morning and finds the house to himself, he is struck with the idea of making moon soup. He spends all day gathering the ingredients to prepare this delicacy--and what a shopping list it is! Six eggs and the color purple (lilacs, violets and eggplants are good), ``teacups galore,'' a scoop of sunset and a little music all blended in a large umbrella. When the lunar brew is ready, there's only one place to dine: ``sitting on the moon.'' This unusual picture book is a visual feast of surreal colors and shapes. Bright, bold artwork glistens with an undercurrent of eeriness as Desimini ( The Great Peace March ; Heron Street ) whisks together design sophistication and childlike quirkiness. The text itself is a bit arbitrary: there seems to be little rhyme or reason to the makings of moon soup, and any item could be added to the list without real consequence. Desimini's imagination is wonderfully fertile while her book's foundations are agreeably off-center. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)